Bamboo Placemats By Kakoa on Nov 02, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

I have four of these bamboo slat placemats from Bed Bath and Beyond. I have been using them now for just about two years now. Overall I like them, but they do have some downfalls after using them for a while. They do make a great touch to the table and do work well for keeping things off the table.

One flaw of these bamboo placemats is that because they are wood, they can get permanently stained easily. If you get oil or grease on them and do not get it off right away, the wood will absorb some of the oil and leave a faint spot. Also, you have to be careful not to damage the wood strips or separate them from each other. If they get gaps between them, food gets past the placemat and on the table. And it is hard to clean between the pieces of wood if anything falls through.

The cloth edges do help to keep the placemat together, compared to the ones without cloth on the edges. They look great on the table and tend to strike up conversations with guests. People like how different they are. The nice thing about them is that you don't have to put them in the washer. All you have to do it take a wet cloth to them for cleaning, roll them up, and store them away to dry.